1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printing from an internet based source onto a printer located at a user's home. Specifically contemplated is a situation in which the home printer is connected to a set top box which, in turn, is connected to a cable network, with the cable network accepting print jobs from the internet-based source and directing the print job to the home printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
With increasing availability of cable television networks that also provide digital data to a home subscriber, a new product is becoming increasingly common in homes: a set top box which provides access not only to conventional cable television, but also provides access to internet-based digital data. Examples of existing set top boxes include those manufactured by Scientific Atlanta under the tradename “Explorer 2000”, General Instrument under the tradename “DCT 5000+”, and Motorola, under the tradename “StreamMaster”. Set top boxes are home-based, and are connected to a cable provider (often referred to as the “cable head end”) over a high speed digital cable network. Set top boxes provide efficient delivery of cable television broadcasts from the cable head end. In addition, through an internet connection at the cable head end, set top boxes also provide the ability for a home user to access the internet through web browser software included in the set top box.
In a related development, sophisticated printers such as bubble jet printers, designed specifically for home use, have become increasingly affordable, and have enjoyed widespread acceptance. It has therefore been considered to provide a connection between a set top box and a printer, thereby to allow a home user of a set top box to initiate printout of documents directly on his printer without the need for a separate computer.
In an unrelated development in the field of printing, the subject of distributed printing has recently attracted attention. Conventional paradigms of printing allow for printout to a printer connected to the same computer or network as the source of the print job. According to distributed printing, the source of the print job need not be connecte to the same network, or be at the same location as, the destination printer. An Internet Printing Protocol has been proposed that allows for distributed printing over the internet, that is, from an internet-based source to an internet-based destination. The following documents describe the Internet Printing Protocol, and are incorporated herein by reference: RFC 2568, “Rationale for the Structure of the Model and Protocol for the Internet Printing Protocol”, April 1999; RFC 2567, “Design Goals for an Internet Printing Protocol”, April, 1999; RFC 2566, “Internet Printing Protocol/1.0: Model and Semantics”, April 1999; RFC 2565, “Internet Printing Protocol/1.0: Encoding and Transport”, April 1999; and RFC 2569, “Mapping between LPD ad IPP Protocols”, April 1999.
Distributed printing has not yet been considered in the field of set top boxes, primarily because the set top box (and any attached printer) is not actually connected to the internet. Rather, it is the cable head end that is connected to the internet; thus, distributed printing techniques like the Internet Printing Protocol are not able to address print jobs from an internet-based source to the set top box. The assignee of the present application is currently engaged in development of internet-based printing over a digital cable network to a set top box, for example, U.S. application entitled “Internet-Based Push Printing Over Cable Network”, filed Jul. 20, 1999.
One problem encountered in such a proposal is the limited computing power currently available in set top boxes. Specifically, set top boxes must be designed to provide access not only to cable television, but also to the internet, and must be designed for these criteria at an affordable price. Accordingly, the computing power included in set top boxes is deliberately limited, so as to ensure affordability with reasonable function.
Because of limited resources in the set top box, however, print jobs routed to the set top box can not ordinarily be executed by the set top box without undue delays and other frustrations to the user, all resulting directly from limited resources. What is needed, therefore, is a more efficient way of printing via a digital cable network on a printer connected to a home user's set top box, for a print job originated from an internet based source.